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A deep(er) dive into the Way of Champions Podcast Warsofsky interview

I've been seeing some short clips circulate from this interview and tbh I thought people were drawing some wild conclusions from them, so I decided I'd watch the whole thing and see if there was more to it. There is a tendency to be very negative about Warso in a way that isn't very productive anymore in my opinion and this was actually a fascinating interview! I'm going to give you my main takeaways but I encourage you to watch the whole thing if you're interested in what goes on in Warso's head.

Disclaimer: this interview is about how Warso sees himself and his own coaching style. Even if what he believes he is doing, or says he is doing, doesn't completely align with reality, it's still interesting to look at the kind of coach he would want to be in an ideal situation. We're not in the room with the team, so it's hard to really say whether any of this holds water. I'm simply trying to draw attention to a few interesting things he's saying, the future will tell whether his words hold up!

1. Warso's coaching philosophy

Warso places immense value in the team culture, relationships with the players and trust. He repeats those terms over and over again throughout the interview. He clearly sees himself as a coach who puts a lot of time and effort into knowing his players and having his players know him. He also emphasizes the group dynamics and players playing for each other, and he thinks that great results will eventually flow from that. This is interesting because I think that's almost the opposite of how a lot of fans see Warso (and that's understandable given some of the things he's said in the media) but we do know that almost all the players talked about the great culture they had this season, so there must be at least some truth to it!

2. Warso and Will

From what he says in this interview I actually think he sees Will Smith very clearly. Firstly, because I see this being repeated all around on here, Warso is not claiming he is Will Smith's best friend, he's saying that Will is the player he himself is probably the closest to.

Secondly, a lot of the things he says that could be heard as criticism of Will in this interview are simply just true. Will was the best player in his age category for a long time and that did allow him to get away with holes in his game that are problematic in the NHL. We also know from other men who have coached Will that he's very coachable and responds well to high standards being set. In this interview Warso clearly mentions the things Will is already good at and how valuable they are (his creative play making mostly), he acknowledges that he maybe went too far sometimes ("There's certain situations where maybe I should give him some more rope, for sure") and he claims he does own up to his mistakes in the room ("I'm real, I'm honest, I'm passionate (...) I do make mistakes and I'll own up to it (...) - be accountable to your mistakes, and I think players care, you know, when they know that you're part of it with them, and they know we're all in this together, you get a lot more out of them.")

Warso acknowledges how passionate people are about Will but he's saying that he can't and won't let that sway him in what he thinks Will needs to grow, and I think that's valuable in a coach. He acknowledges readily that there's things Will can do that he himself would never be able to ("Are they still special players? 100%. Can they do things that I could never do and I'll never be able to do (...)? Of course.") but that doesn't mean he can't see where Will does have work to do. I don't necessarily always agree with Warso's methods, and I certainly think he's said some stupid shit in the media, but I do think that Warso has a vision for Will that he's working towards together with Will and it's valuable that he's willing to stick to his guns regardless of public opinion. Again, maybe there's a better way to go about it, but Warso clearly thinks what he's doing is working (and we did see Will improve a lot towards the end of the season).

3. Warso and Mack

Warso thinks very highly of Mack and it's clear from this interview that Mack will be captain soon. He talks about Mack's leadership qualities a lot ("he can speak when he needs to, but at the end of the day he leads by example") - I think it's very clear from this interview that Mack will be captain soon.

He also talks about how he and Mack are similar with regards to their temper during and right after games, but calm and more able to put things in perspectives the next day. I do think that's one of the reasons he really likes Mack ("I'm very similar, I'm passionate, I'm fiery, (...) but when the temperature comes down a bit I can see it clearly"). Warso knows he needs to work on his temper and he sees Tortorella with VGK as an example to emulate. We know Warso has already improved in this area compared to the previous season and he mentions that he's going to work on it this summer as well.

I actually don't think Warso sees Mack as clearly as he sees Will. He obviously thinks that Mack is an amazing player and a true example to other players in the room, and that's great, but I do wonder if he's able to see where Mack still needs to grow and where his pitfalls lie - we've seen that throughout the season with Mack seemingly choosing his own ice time and running endless double shifts. It's interesting that he doesn't really talk about any of the things Mack still needs to work on in the interview. You could see that as favoritism towards Mack or disrespect towards Will but at the end of the day I actually think that Mack might have the shorter end of the stick if his coach is unable to see where he still needs to grow and develop.

4. Development of other young players

What I'm still missing in this interview is a clearer vision from Warso on how to develop so many young players at the same time. Warso talks about Will a bunch and that's great, and he also talks about giving young guys ice time to work on their skills in different situations ("you want the Sam Dickinsons and the Michael Misas to get some experiences and some unique situations that they're going to be in for their career going forward") - I just don't think we really see that pan out in reality. He mentions how it's hard for a coach cause at the end of the day he's judged based on wins and losses, and that's of course true, but then what is his plan to develop these guys? What about the Shakir Mukhamadullins and Pavol Regendas of the world who need development but keep getting scratched? What about Misa's lack of ice time and the crazy line blenders?

I'd have loved to hear him speak about that a bit more, because while Warso says that "these young players need to gain experience in these situations and you can't just when they make mistakes rip it away from them", I think what we see happen on the ice is that it is very much ripped away from them. Add to that his comments in the media about "earning ice time" and you do have to wonder how he plans on continuing development for all these young guys, especially if another one is potentially added to the mix after this year's draft.

***

I know the hatred for Warso runs deep and when you take some of what he says out of context, it does sound pretty bad - but I think we are doing him, the players and ultimately ourselves a disservice by refusing to engage with the totality of what he's saying. After watching the whole thing I can only say that I hope Warso can live up to the standard that he has set for himself, cause if he does he could actually be a really good coach. Again, this is just how he sees himself, who knows how it is in reality! But at least his philosophy and intentions seem to be in the right place.

These were my main takeaways, but there's a ton more interesting stuff in there! You can take a look under the cut for my transcription of the (to me) interesting parts of the interview if you want.

I've transcribed these quotes depending on what I found interesting and what pertains to criticism of Warso I've seen and I also personally have. I tried to keep it as close to how he actually said it as possible, so there's a lot of filler and maybe slightly confusing sentences. I did not transcribe the questions asked by the podcast hosts but just kind of summarized them.

Again I urge you to watch the interview in full!

What he wants walking into the building to feel like, what it feels like for the players to come to work:

[A friend's dad told me] "the day you don't enjoy going to the rink is the day you gotta find something else to do" (...) and I always told myself that if I was ever coaching (...) I wanted them to enjoy coming to the rink every day (...). At the end of the day it's a game that we all love, the game is a lot bigger than all of us. (...) That's one thing that kinda hit home for me so I always try to have a feel for that, in the long days of January and February when we're kind of grinding it out and we might be struggling a little bit, you gotta go back and you gotta find some joy and make these guys enjoy coming to the rink because if they're not enjoying coming to the rink their attention span is not gonna be very high (...) I think it's very important for a coach, especially the head coach, to have that feel.

What does he think we would see if we were to watch him coach for a week:

I think you'd see a lot of passion in what I do (...) and in what I want our team to do (...). You'll see a guy that cares deeply about his players (...) at the end of the day they're human beings and this generation more than any generation wants to feel the love and that's a good thing and I think if you fight that, you're going down a slippery slope as a coach. So, and sometimes it's tough love, sometimes it's hard conversations and I think I'm extremely honest and you know, fair with what my assessment is [of] them as a player (...) and I try to be extremely honest with them (...) it's pretty clear, it's pretty direct and to the point and sometimes they might not like what they hear (...) they leave that office and it's pretty clear whether they agree with it or not (...) I try to be extremely fair, direct and honest.

Being the youngest coach in a rebuild + how to measure progress:

I'm ultra competitive (...) my biggest challenge (...) is when you don't get the result and when you don't win it eats you up (...). So I really try to stick to the process of creating moreso (...) a culture, a foundation of how you want the organisation to have success long term (...) and knowing the results (...) eventually will come. (...) We think we've created a pretty good culture with these last two years (...). Now there's a standard and we're going to continue to hold guys to the standard and we're going to continue to move the standard up as we get better but sticking to the process has been my biggest challenge (...) partly because I'm ultra competitive and I'm extremely passionate and I want us to win and I want players to feel that joy (...). I think it will continue to be my challenge as I grow forward (...).

About how a rebuild might take a while:

I think that's what's great about our management team here in San Jose is that there's a priority of patience in how we want to do this thing (...) we want to be in contention year after year after year for the next ten years.

How do you not lose the locker room when you're trying to have patience?

For me it's more about the relationship with the player and even moreso with the relationship with the human being because he is a human before he's a player (...) of course there's going to be some disagreements (...) at the end of the day I have to do what's best for the team and there's a lot of things we see that sometimes a player doesn't always see, we see how they interact with their teammates in the cafeteria, we see how they interact on the plane, how they interact on the bus, how are they in the gym, how do they interact with our (...) staff, (...) and at the end of the day the tape don't lie (...). You know, a young player coming out there for the first time and we're trying to protect the lead and he makes a mistake and he's 21 years old and this is the first time he's played in this situation, (...) he deserves another chance, I think he has to, you can't just say he messed up the first time, that's it, never again. How you create belief in the player, how do you create improvement, how do you [make him be accountable], yep I screwed up, I'll do it better, I know I can. So I think as a coach you have to have that feel (...) let's try to work with him, help him, develop him.

On coaching Mack (who interviewer thinks could be the greatest of all time!) - how do you earn trust quickly with a guy on that level?

I think it takes a lot of time (...) what I've realized with our 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 year olds is that it takes time and that's fine and that's part of who they are, they're not just going to say "I trust Warso, he's good, he's a great coach", it's going to take me building that relationship over time, hockey conversations, non-hockey conversations, life conversations, (...) For me it just takes a lot of time and effort and conversations, sometimes formal, sometimes informal, to help build that relationship (...) they're not just going to stamp you with a stamp of approval on the first day

What should coaches avoid to keep trust going in the right direction?

I see a lot of coaches (...) change who they are (...) - be who you are! (...) I don't want Macklin Celebrini to change who he is, he's passionate, he's fiery, he wants to win (...). Will Smith is different than Macklin Celebrin, I want Will Smith to be Will Smith, I don't want Will to be Mack (...). I see that mistake very frequently (...) I've just been myself, this is who I am, it's very organic, (...) I'm real, I'm honest, I'm passionate (...) I do make mistakes and I'll own up to it (...) be accountable to your mistakes, and I think players care, you know, when they know that you're part of it with them, and they know we're all in this together, you get a lot more out of them.

How do you take someone like Mack and give him mentors?

I think the organization did a really good job, obviously living with Joe Thornton, who is a leader (...) and what he's done for the Sharks, and to live with him and to experience that I think was super beneficial for Mack. (...) There's vocal leaders, there's non-vocal leaders, for me it's: who leads the group in the right way? (...) How do you prepare for the game, are you in the gym getting ready, are you respectful to the people around you, do you practice extremely hard, do you play extremely hard? Those are the leaders that I think are the most unique (...) you look at Mack, he's got all those qualities, he's got every one of those, he can speak when he needs to, but at the end of the day he leads by example, he leads by the way he prepares himself throughout the summer, how he comes into training camp as the best conditioned guy in our team, how he practices like it's the last practice he's ever gonna have, and how he plays like it's the last game he's gonna ever play. So those are the things that I've seen from Mack and very similar to Sid and talking to Celly (...) and we're seeing it now (...) playing for team Canada Mack was the captain and Sid came over and was like, nope, you're the captain, you know, and Sidney Crosby is, you know, captain Canada right? (...) We do believe Mack is well on his way to being the guy who is, you know, carrying the torch going forward. (...) Everyone's taught a little bit differently, Mack is very accountable the next day when you bring him in and you have conversations with him and he sees something, whether that's on film or whether that happened throughout the day, he sees it very very well for a 19 year old. And during the game you know when the temperature's hot sometimes it's hard, you know, and he sees it a little bit differently, which, you respect that (...) I'm very similar, I'm passionate, I'm fiery, (...) but when the temperature comes down a bit I can see it clearly.

On being fiery but also calm in big moments + Tortorella:

It's a double edged sword in a sense, cause like I said it's who I am, it's the ultra competitiveness, but there's probably a time and place and to feel what your team needs and sometimes what I need is not what the team needs, or what I believe I need is not what the team need, and that's something that - and I need to continue to work on and grow with and get better at. (...) Sometimes, I watch a lot of hockey games, and I won't even watch the game, I watch the coach on the bench (...). Right now I've seen John Tortorella going to Vegas and he's been very calm, and he's a fiery guy, I've gotten to know Torts quite well over the last couple of years and there's a lot of similarities with ourselves, and, but I've seen him go into this team (...) he has come in and he figured out what the team needed, they needed a calm presence, they need reassurance, they needed belief (...). So I've seen that a little bit and (...) I've talked to some coaches that have won Stanley Cups (...) and I want to continue to grow this summer and that's something I'll look a lot at, really taking the temperature of your team and what your team needs is really at the end of the day what it's all about.

On turning the room around after the bad start to the season:

We kind of flipped the script a little bit and (...) aimed it more towards positivity and our process and how we wanted to play the game the right way, (...) I can't just say hey, let's go win a game tonight (...) Break it down a little bit to them and let them focus on you know, instead on five things, let's focus on these three things (...). At the end of the day this is a new group, this is different, we had a lot of new players, we had to come together (...). What was great for me when I look back there was, for the majority of the season, we had guys playing for one another, and when you play for the guy next to you, (...) we never gave up, we just played the game in front of us, but that is something we should all be proud of as the coaching staff that we had this group playing for each other, and that doesn't happen very often, that's hard to do, it's hard to get there, it takes time, and I think that's why we had a lot of successes. (...) At the end of the day it's about the team. If I go in there and berate them and yell at them and scream at them after losing 4-1, you know (...) sometimes we lost and I'd feel like, did they even care? And they do, these players do care, they care more, some people just show it a little bit differently, I show it you know and it's very evident that I care, Macklin Celebrini, you can see it, but you know, Will Smith cares, he really does, but he doesn't show it the same way I show it, he doesn't show it the same way Mack shows it. So you know, you have to sometimes take a step back as a coach and go, okay, they do care, (...) but you know, what do they need? Sometimes it is, I do go in there and kind of ruffle the feathers a little bit, but the majority of the time you go in there and you do this together (...). If we play hard for one another, if you go out there and you focus on what your job is within your shift (...) we can go back and win. And next thing you know you score a goal and make it 5-2 and all of a sudden that belief gets a bit more (...) and next thing you know (...) we tie it up and win it in overtime. (...) I'm bringing up that game [against Pittsburgh] up as an example of a huge switch in (...) building to our culture and our identity was that game, you know we come back, we win the game in overtime, (...) we're moving forward, now, no matter what the deficit is, we can come back and win.

On giving young guys chances and looking at their needs, juggling that with needing a win:

Especially where we're at, you want the Sam Dickinsons and the Michael Misas to get some experiences and some unique situations that they're going to be in for their career going forward, you know, then you gotta balance out, you know, a minute left in the game who you're putting out on the ice to win the hockey game cause at the end of the day that's coaches... as much as they say you're not judged by wins and losses, at the end of the day you are judged by wins and losses, that is what it is, so there's definitely, you kind of go back and forth in your head a little bit, but you know I've stuck to my guns, and if I can trust you, you know, you'll go on the ice. And sometimes you gotta gain my trust, sometimes as young players you're kind of given that right away and sometimes you have to reel it back a little bit, but you have to have trust in your players and your players have to feel that, and I think if they do, that's when you start making, you know, some true development in who they are as players, and you know it's all about trust and we get paid a lot to win hockey games, but these guys, these young players need to gain experience in these situations and you can't just when they make mistakes rip it away from them.

Social media; how do you not change who you are because of what is being said on social media?:

It's difficult, it's difficult for everyone, it's difficult for our players, it's difficult for my wife that reads some of this stuff (...) everyone has an opinion you know and if you, you know, make a decision and it works out great there's 51% that like it and there's 49 that don't like it (...) and if it doesn't work it's the other way around. (...) If I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down swinging in what I believe in. I'm not gonna make every right decision, I'm not going to win you know 82 games in a row and be undefeated all season, we know that, we're gonna try, we're gonna try like hell to do that, but you know you have to really ignore the outside noise and what we go through (...). Every decision can be criticized (...). It's a problem and I don't know what the solution is to fix it (...).

How do you help your players ignore social media?

I'll give you an example, this year obviously Will Smith - we're pushing Will Smith to be better than he believes he can be, you know, that's our job as coaches at the end of the day. (...) and I'm going to push these players and challenge them, you know, Macklin Celebrini to be the best ever, you know, not to be top five, to be the best ever. I'm gonna challenge Will Smith to be better than he believes he can be and others believe he can be and that's my job. And this year, you know, there's times you're a little bit harder on some guys and you push some guys and I think we had benched, you know I benched Will Smith for a period and man I got criticized like it was the end of the world (...) but what people don't realize is that me and Will Smith's relationship, I probably have the best relationship with Will than anyone on the team, you know, we talk every single day, we won our championship together, (...) we're extremely close, we see it the same way, he comes in my office, we talk, we go through things, he's like yep, I need to be better there, and you would think, you know, we hate each other and that's a strong word from people from the outside. We don't, we're very aligned in what we believe in and how we think we need to get better and he wants to be pushed, he wants to be challenged, he knows he can be better. There's certain situations where maybe I should give him some more rope, for sure, but if you listen to that that's where things can get kind of dangerous, and you have to really ignore that noise.

What is it that elite athletes need emotionally that fans never even think about?

I think as fans we look at statistics, we look at goals, we look at assists, we look at the high-light reel pass that they make or the high-light reel goal that they score, and there's more to the game than just that. And for us to win we need to play a certain way, we need to be, you know, we need to defend hard, we gotta win 50-50 pucks, we gotta, you know, play on the inside and at the net, we gotta defend extremely hard. You know we have to play a certain way to have success, not just today, tomorrow, a year from now, two years from now, you know, there's habits that some of these players have that they - being the best player in the world at their age at 18 or 16 or 15, growing up, it works, it does, they can do it, they get away with it, but when you come and play in the National Hockey League, (...) it doesn't work. And you have to play a certain way and we have to change some of those habits. Are they still special players? 100%. Can they do things that I could never do and I'll never be able to do (...)? Of course. And we want to keep those, we want to keep those traits and that tool set but we need to continue to improve in other areas (...). The best athletes of all time continue to hone their craft (...), that's where we're trying to get some of our young players to go, is the fundamentals that you need to play with to win, not just to score the highlight reel goal, they already have that, they can do that. Can they win a puck on the wall when there's 30 seconds left and you're tired and you have nothing left and maybe you're a little banged up and you have a bruise on your hip (...) can you fight through that, can you play with some mental toughness, can you do what's best for the team, not what's best for you and win that puck or block a shot? The small, the small fundamental things that at the end of the day, in any sport, is what makes you and what helps you win championships. And that's not - that's not (...) a secret, that is in every sport (...). We lose that (...) we have all these coaches, we have the shooting coach, the skating coach, we have the skill coach, we have all these specialty coaches nowadays but we've lost the fact that to win the event, or that championship, there's the fundamentals (...) of hockey really haven't changed. (...) It's extremely hard to win, it is extremely hard, you don't just show up and do it, it's hard, it's painful, you have to be mentally and physically tough, and that's the lesson we're trying to teach our players.

Stanley Cup being the hardest trophy to win in sports:

It's extremely difficult to win (...) it's physically, you know, demanding on you, it's every other day, it's mentally, you know, demanding for you to be mentally ready to go and play every single gay, it's the travel you have to go through to get to, you know, specific cities, there's certainly, there's luck involved (...) you gotta get a couple bounces, but the roller coaster that you go on when you win, and I would say every coach would say this, (...) you feel like you win, you go up 2-0, man, we've got this and all of a sudden it's 2-1 and it's like oh my god, they might come back (...) the roller coaster of emotion you go on when you coach, for me, especially is extremely challenging but to keep the mindset of just sticking to the process and ignoring that is kind of the awesome challenge which is so grateful when you look back on it (...). You see it in the Stanley Cup for sure, how hard it is, the emotional grind that you go through.

How do you ensure that the growth keeps happening?

I think, you know, we did a lot of work this year to move it forward in a way of our culture and our standard, now the culture is in a good place and our standard's gotta rise, the standard's gotta be, we're gonna start the season on time, you know, we gotta, that'll be object number one, we've obviously had some slow starts the last four years and our start is gonna be pivotal in getting us going. And that will start with bringing more belief to our group more than ever (...) We have a long summer of preparation and getting ready and till that moment, I think right now we're in the decompress phase, you know, we'll start building towards next season with a lot of conversations with the players, myself and the players individually and continue to grow those relationships and setting the goals out. (...) We still have a long way to go with getting to what the final goal is, which is the Stanley Cup, and it's not gonna happen over night, it's gonna take baby steps to get there throughout the summer and to the start of the next season and I think at the end of the day we gotta continue to get comfortable being uncomfortable (...) it's gonna take a lot of physical toughness, mental toughness, to get to where we wanna get to and we can't get wrapped up in what the outside thinks of us and perceives of us and wants us to do and goals that they have for us, you know, at the end of the day I've said to our group, the only people that really care, care about who we are and what we're gonna do is the people within the four walls of our locker room. That's just the reality of it, I say it all the time to our players, my dad is the biggest Sharks fan there is, he wants us to win, but when he wakes up the next morning he's not really worried about what the Sharks did. Of course he wants us to win, yeah, but it doesn't affect him like it affects the people in the locker room. That is the reality at the end of the day. So for us to continue to move this forward is going to take every one of us from our training staff to our equipment staff, to our assistant coaches, medical team, and the players from the top of the roster to the bottom of the roster. It's going to take every one of us to continue to push this thing forward, we want to be better, we want to take it to teams next year, and I thought that was a big step, we kinda found our way halfway through the season to really, to control the game, we want to do that more often, we want to be the team that's controlling the game and I think that will lead to more wins.

Extra: Warso's coaching history as detailed in the video description:

Ryan Warsofsky just completed his second season as the head coach of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, this past season leading them to 39 wins, an 18 win improvement over 2025. He also served as the head coach for the U.S. Men’s National Team for the first time at the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship, winning a gold medal. Prior to joining the Sharks, Warsofsky was the head coach of the Chicago Wolves of the AHL for two seasons (2020-22), where, in 2022, at age 34, he became the youngest coach since Peter Laviolette in 1999 to guide a team to the Calder Cup. He also spent two seasons with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, one as an assistant (2018-19) and one as head coach (2019-20). In 2019, he helped guide the Checkers to a Calder Cup. Warsofsky’s coaching career began in 2012-13 with his alma mater NCAA Division III Curry College as an assistant after two seasons with the team as a player. He then joined the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays in 2013, serving as an assistant for three seasons before being promoted to head coach and director of hockey operations for his final two seasons (2016-18).

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